Ten green groups on Wednesday made a final appeal to an advisory council to veto an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for a project which aims to build a new technology hub in the northern part of Hong Kong, arguing it is the worst wetland assessment since EIA regulations came into place in 1998.

The Advisory Council on the Environment is due to discuss the EIA for the San Tin Technopole project next Monday. Afterwards, it will submit its suggestions to the Environmental Protection Department (EPD).

Among the 10 environmental groups involved in the campaign is the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society.

Wong Suet-mei, the group’s senior conservation officer, said green groups have compared this EIA to similar ones conducted in the past two decades and feel this one was lacking.

“In terms of different items, including the ecological baseline survey, and preparations of the mitigation plan and the information that are published to the public, not only [did the EIA] not do enough, but they even missed some of the items,” she said.

“For example, they missed two species of breeding birds and also they did not share the actual number of black-faced spoonbills that they counted in their survey.”

Wong said the EIA violated at least 35 statutory requirements and omitted at least 27 crucial data points.

She said the EIA also missed out on a comprehensive wetland management plan to prove that compensating measures were in place to recover the wetland loss.

She mentioned in the past, the government would resubmit the assessment in the event of significant re-planning or changes in the development area.

Responding to media enquiries, the Development Bureau said authorities had completed a 12-month ecological monitoring study which included a new area of the project and an area within 500 metres from the site boundary.

It said the EIA examined and provided information and data of different species of birds and animals, including wild otters.

The bureau said the EIA also set out measures to mitigate the environmental impact, which included the development of the Sam Po Shue Wetland Conservation Park to increase the number of species and biological diversity.

It said the report was handed to the advisory council for further consideration.

In its response, the Environmental Protection Department said the EIA process was a professional, objective and open system that operated in an open and transparent way.

It said it would consider whether to approve the document and any conditions in accordance with the law, taking into account any comments from the public.
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Last updated: 2024-04-18 HKT 01:09